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Palestinians, Israelis Tackle Security Cooperation After Summit Collapses
Palestinian and Israeli officials Wednesday evening held a meeting here to discuss boosting security cooperation in order to head off violence in view of the collapse of the Camp David summit.
Palestinian Secretary General Tayeb Abdul Rahim and Minister of Civil Affairs Jamil Tarifi and Israeli Deputy Defense Minister and Palestinian territory coordinator Jacob Ar attended the meeting, according to Palestinian sources.
Both parties are currently eager to appease the situation in the Palestinian territories, said Rahim after the meeting. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) hopes Israel will carry out the 1993 Oslo accords, abide by its commitments and carry on final status negotiations, he added.
Over the declaration of Palestinian statehood, he said the Palestinians wished that it would not be declared unilaterally without Israel's support.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has repeatedly announced to declare statehood in September after the interim phase expires, even without an agreement with Israel.
For his part, the Israeli deputy defense minister said any potential unilateral step would "lead to nothing and nowhere," reiterating that the peace process did not reach a deadlock notwithstanding the Camp David summit failure.
However, both parties agreed that bloodshed was of no use and that there had to be dialog between them so as to thwart violence.
Israel's army chief of general staff Shaul Mofaz emphasized that Israel did not seek to use its forces and that it would do its utmost to avoid violence.
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